


Who would have thought?

by makingitwork



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Happy Ending, M/M, Saddness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 09:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1464733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makingitwork/pseuds/makingitwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who would have thought that Reid almost dying would bring everyone back to where they already were, but didn't realise? Hailey did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who would have thought?

Reid blinked, pain shooting all across his body as though he were being electrocuted. It was so bright- god why was it so bright? Where was he? He blinked again, irritated at the fact that everything was blurry, and he clenched his eyes shut tightly, opening them again, and breathing a small sigh of relief when everything came into focus. Hospital. He was in a hospital, that was…good, right? He groaned as he shifted, the pain refocusing, much sharper now. 

“Apparently you told them not to give you any narcotics,” came a gentle voice. Spencer shifted slightly, the rest of the room coming into focus, there were three chairs on both sides of his bed. On his left was Emily, Morgan and Penelope. On his right, was Hotch, Rossi, and JJ. Everyone appeared to be watching him, so at first he was unsure of who had spoken, when he saw Hotch. The man who had dragged him away from Tobias when he’d shot. 

“Hi Hotch,” Spencer managed a smile, tears pricking in his eyes “Is Tobias…”

“He’s dead, Reid.” JJ whispered, her eyes read “Don’t worry, he’s gone,”

Spencer frowned, looking at all of their faces. He’d never seen them sadder. Garcia, the blonde, bubbly, beauty was crying into Emily’s shoulder, and Morgan was staring at Reid as though any second he might disappear, and he wanted to remember him for the whole of eternity. Hotch was watching him too, but much for studiously, searching for signs of…anything. JJ was just holding back tears, and Rossi didn’t know what to do with any of it. “W-what…” he took a deep breath, whimpering in pain as he did so, which made every agent sit up straighter and lean towards him, ready to help in any way they could “What e-exactly are my injuries?” His voice was shaking, no matter how much he tried to stop it.

They all looked at one another, before the burden fell on Hotch. “Tobias shot you in the left lung you’ve had major surgery, but…they’re unsure yet, whether the tissue will match. Your left shoulder was also hit, but it was mostly a flesh wound, and with two cracked ribs, you fell into a pain induced coma.” Hotch managed a small smile “No narcotics Reid? Do you have a death wish?”

“No,” Spencer smiled at the concern in his voice “I just…No drugs.” He nodded, as did Hotch, who understood everything, as he always had. “You know, the probability of someone waking up from a pain induced coma is 4 out of 2000. And the percentage of people who survive a tissue transplant is only 27%, probably less for me considering that my blood type is the least common, and I lost a lot of it.” The statistics made him feel better, eased his pain, but not anyone else’s.

“What are you saying, Reid?” Morgan whispered. The lanky brunette turned to look at him sadly

“I’m saying the chances of me surviving this are incredibly slim-“

“Spence,” JJ whispered “Don’t say that.” She started crying “Don’t.” Reid swallowed, looking down at himself, nodding fiercely. And suddenly everything was a little too bright, and their breathing was a little too loud, and the pain was a little too much. He let his eyes close, and relaxed, feeling the needles in his forearms.

“Spencer,” came a firm voice, he thought he made a sound in response, but didn’t open his eyes “You have to stay away, Reid.” Morgan called through the sudden cloudiness “Come on man, shoot me some statistics, just don’t fall asleep.”

“I’m really tired,” Spencer whispered, shoulders sagging, eyes watering as he opened them, and try as he might, he couldn’t blame the light for that. “Garcia,” he tried, the blonde stood and was by his side instantly

“Yes my sweetness?”

“Can you do something for me?”

“Anything.” She promised in a heartbeat and goodness didn’t Reid love that about her? Hadn’t he always loved that about her? She kept every promise she ever made, and she was so good and so kind, and she should always be happy.

“Remember that-“ he made a small keening sound as breathing became very difficult. He knew what was happening. His body was rejecting the tissue. He was in 65%. “Remember that message I had you record when I had anthrax?” She nodded violently “You didn’t delete it, right?” Garcia had wanted too, but she couldn’t. The other members of the team looked confused

“Make sure she gets it, alright? A-and, there’s this book in my apartment, of Robert Browning Poems, fully annotated, will you make sure she gets that too?”

“Of course I will,” Garcia promised, touching his forehead gently, her hands were so warm, it was relieving, he was so cold. He’d never been colder in his whole life.

“Goodnight guys,” he whispered, eyes drifting shut, and he wished it hadn’t sounded like goodbye. 

Penelope started crying and Emily buried her face in her hands. “See you when you wake up,” Morgan said firmly, and it almost sounded like a threat. Reid nodded, mumbling something about how this couldn’t possibly be regulation, and their soft laughter was the last thing he heard for a long time.

…  
…  
…

Morgan and Hotch couldn’t asleep, the rest of them did, exhaustion and sadness taking its toll, but they stayed up. And they would, right up until Reid’s heart monitor stopped beeping reassuringly. The door opened, and the two men stood, seeing Elle. She looked beautiful, tall and thin and delicate, with lovely long caramel curls. She smiled at them, before looking to Reid. “Is he gonna be alright?” she whispered.

Apparently her voice did something, ignited something in that eidetic memory of his, because Reid opened his eyes, almost instantly, and the smile that spread across his face was contagious. “Elle,” he whispered, voice choking with emotion “God Elle, I’ve missed you so much,”

“Hey Spence,” she whispered, rushing to his side and hugging him, he buried his head in her neck, she was the same. She was exactly the same. Elle sat on the side of the bed, Morgan and Hotch stunned, and unsure what to do. She brushed his hair from his face, smiling “You got another haircut. Look like a real boy now. Member of any boy bands?”

“I didn’t get that reference when Hotch made it,” Spencer confessed. Hotch smiled, relaxing as he sat down, but Morgan stayed stiff, unwavering. 

“How are you doing?” Elle whispered

“Not so great,” he admitted weakly “But w-what are you doing here? How did you know?”

“I watch the News, Reid,” she whispered “Got on a plane as soon as I heard.”

“I’ve been to the hospital before, where the probability of me dying was higher than it is now.” He pointed out quietly, she nodded, running her fingers through his soft hair, her eyes dark and sad

“I didn’t know that,” she pointed out quietly. “I’ve been away, Reid, but I’m here now, you know that, I’m here,”

“I know that,” he echoed quietly. She smiled at him

“You know who else is here?” she stood, going to stand by Morgan who ignored her completely. And the door opened quietly, and standing there…was Gideon. 

Spencer looked like he was going to cry. Hotch shook his head in disbelief, and Morgan looked so torn. “Hey Spencer,” Gideon said quietly, his eyes scanned over the room, stumbling slightly on the sleeping Rossi and Emily. He nodded at Morgan and Hotch, stepped closer to Reid. “It’s been a long time,”

“Three years,”

“Yeah, how you doing?” he laughed at his only question, shaking his head bitterly “Spencer, three years, I’m still your emergency contact?”

Spencer shrugged, not ashamed “Why would I change it?” Gideon nodded, sitting on the edge of the bed and touching Reid’s shoulder. Reid looked up at him, wide eyed and searching.

“Spencer, you started your life at the FBI as my apprentice. Remember that? Remember you with ear length hair? Couldn’t fire a gun for the life of you? Then when I got asked back into the BAU, I brought you with me, because hell. You were the smartest person I’d ever met in my whole life. And then anthrax happened, and you talked down a killer without a gun. And you weren’t my apprentice anymore, you were an agent.” He took a deep breath “And then you were taken hostage by Tobias, and you survived, you outwitted him, you understood him. And I knew you were one of the best agents I’d ever seen in my life,” he stopped for a long time, and seemed unable to go on. 

Reid prompted him “You said in your letter, than you knew it would be me who came to the Cabin,” he licked his lips “H-how could you have known that?”

“How?” Gideon quirked a smile “Because the son comes to check on his father,” a tear drifted down his cheek, but he wiped it away. “I knew you would come, and knowing that? It was the only thing that kept me there for a few months, before my own head got in the way. I had to leave. I had to get away. I wasn’t going to leave a letter at all, but the thought of you, coming up to my Cabin, to find nothing but my gun and my badge…I couldn’t bear it.” Gideon wiped away one of Spencer’s tears, whispering; “You’re still my emergency contact too,”

Spencer swallowed thickly, “I talked down Chester Hardwick. R-remember him? You caught him, 21 years ago,”

Gideon nodded, smiling sadly “You don’t have to work to make me proud, Reid. You stopped needing to do that a long time ago,”

Spencer nodded meekly, looking around the room, at his family. Emily, Penelope, JJ, Rossi, Hotch, Elle, Gideon… “Morgan,” he whispered, the dark man was standing stiffly “Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about me, pretty boy,” he choked “Worry about you,”

“I’m so sorry,”

“No, don’t be sorry, don’t you dare be sorry Reid,”

“I have to go to sleep,” he murmured, eyes drifting shut, letting the calmness wash over him. He was tempted to ask for some narcotics, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t do that to himself, even if it didn’t matter in the long run. “Elle,” he found himself whispering again “I’ve missed you so much,” Elle started crying and Morgan finally forgave everything, and wrapping his arms around her, Gideon could only watch, as the most brilliant man he’d ever known succumbed to the beautiful serenity of sleep.

…  
…  
…

He’d fallen into a coma, and he was showing no signs of waking up. His insurance guaranteed the life support stay on for four weeks, and even if they wanted too, the team couldn’t stay with him the whole time. Life moved on, very slowly. Gideon and Elle let, promising wonderful things, and they got back to work. 

It was exactly 3 weeks and 5 days later, when they were all sat around the round conference table, listening to JJ explain a new case, when the door opened. All 6 of the swivelled around in their chairs, and froze.

There he was. Doctor Spencer Reid. His hair was styled upwards today, making him look more like a model, he was wearing a purple shirt with a silver grey waistcoat and a dark purple tie tucked in, dark tight black trousers, his satchel hanging off one shoulder, coffee that was more sugar than liquid in his right hand. He was walking absolutely fine. No limp, or injury, in fact, it was as if nothing had ever happened to him at all. He smiled brightly, face flawless, and he sat in his chair. “What’s up guys? Sorry I’m late.”

Morgan was the first to snap out of it “Reid?” he whispered, eyes red “Is that really you?”

“Yeah,” he smiled brilliantly, “My body accepted the tissue, my ribs healed in about 2 weeks, and my shoulder just had the stiches removed, I’m fine, everyone,” They all stared, a mixture of joy and disbelief.

“When did you get released?” Rossi whispered

“Um two days ago, but I drove to Atlanta, I needed to see Elle again, I’d forgotten how much I missed her, I also,” he dug into his pocket and retrieved a badge, sliding it over to Derek. “The unsub who stole it? I went to the Local PD, it had been dropped at another crime scene, he’s been caught.” He smiled, rubbing the back of his neck “Derek I…remember that thing you asked me, about 6 weeks ago?”

Derek half smiled. He remembered. He’d asked Reid out for drink, for a date. He hadn’t gotten a straight answer, since they’d both been called away. “I’d love to, Pretty Boy.”

Spencer smiled, his shoulders relaxing. He looked around, swallowing “Guys? Don’t we have a case?”

“Yes we do.” Hotch nodded, and prompted for JJ to keep talking. Everything was back to the way it was, except at the end of the briefing, as they were just about to file out, Hotch called “Reid, if you ever do something like that again, I swear to god…”

“I got it Boss,” Spencer smiled, waving slightly “I missed you too,” he walked out with JJ and Emily, heading towards Garcia’s office, ready to make her smile again. Rossi turned to Morgan

“What did you ask him on Friday?”

“Aren’t you meant to be the best profiler in the world?” Morgan teased “You work it out.”

There would be problems, no doubt about that. They all had to deal with things. Had to talk to Elle and Gideon, and find out why everyone had reacted the way that they did. If Reid needed therapy, how his mother was doing, but as Hotch watched the team treat Reid like a kid, and Reid let them, because hell, he’d missed the way they ruffled their hair, he couldn’t help but think, they were Reid’s family. One day, they would be Reid’s only family.

So as Hotch called Hailey to help him set up a party in Reid’s honour, he wondered if it had always been that way. 

Because she didn’t even sound surprised.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it. I couldn't find it in me to kill him off. I love him way too much.   
> x


End file.
